Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Darren O on December 20, 2007, 07:03:55 pm
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Igot 2 jobs in the last 2 days from customers who phoned Chem Dry first.The first job was a suite and living room carpet CD quoted £250 the second was a leather suite,12 stairs,small landing CD quoted £300 to me thats just ridiculous.
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why? they have a lot of expenses, they need to charge high prices and they are worth it they do excellent work.
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Don't complain, you look cheap and got the jobs.
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I wouldnt say all Chen Dry franchises do exellent work i charge £100 living room and suite i would say thats a competitive price not cheap personally think all this £100 an hour and making £125.000+ for an 1 guy operator is utter nonsense
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It's only spheroids, Darren, if you can't get it 8)
Lower prices will also put off many prospects. As has been stated so many times in the past, if you buy cheap, you get cheap.
Safe and happy cleaning :)
Ken
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I would rather compete with a Chemdry quote than a cheapy.They have done a great job pushing prices up in our industry.
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I charge about the same as what you say CD have charged, maybe a little cheeper but not much.
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Could be 4or 5 hours work, so resonably priced
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erm
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Deep Clean see when you charge £300 for a suite,stairs,landing how long does it take you.
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Your joking 5 hours i can start to see why some of yous charge so much.
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Never actually said how long it too, it all depends on the 3 suit, the type of carpets, obviously the colour and the type of soiling, any thing from 2-4 hrs
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Chemdry prices are middle to top end. I know guys who charge higher than that.
My price for a 3 piece suite is 135 - 150 if I did the lounge as well then prob looking at 200-250 for total job.
Leather suites are a min of 150 to clean and apply protector to.
I did a large leather cream suite yesterday that was poor in areas due to the customer using baby wipes and of all things ajax to clean areas that she thought were dirty but were actually the leather as she had stripped all the top coat and dye from the areas. Job took total 4 hours to do(clean, redye,retopcoat and apply protector) and £450 charge.
Some body earlier made the comment that Chemdry have pushed up prices in our industry, quite rightly so. There are loads of cleaners out there inexperienced,not trainned with poor kit doing a mediocre job. The guys who have invested good money, time and do a proffesional job should and always will command and get the price for their services.
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suite £180.00....... living room if average size £75.00
do this all year round, no problem, always very busy.
prices look correct to me.
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Yip John prices look right to me thats about what I charge
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What is your definition of a 3 piece suite? A 4 cushion cotton print ( 2 seater settee
And 2 chairs) or a 12 cushion Dralon where sometimes the cushions can be a metre
Square.These have piping and fringes attached.The last 12 cushion suite I did it took
11 hours excluding travel,set up and pack up time.The customer was a pipe smoker
And the suite was 8 years old.The last 4 cushion suite took just over an hour,only light
Soilage really.How would you base your prices,I`m at a loss really.
Lewis Doubtfire
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11 hours, you must be joking, and if your not i hope you charged accordingly, i would of charged 3x over and a bit more for 11 hours of suite cleaning. i'd suggest you try a different approach chemical wise if thats how long a nicoteen soiled dralon took you! Far far too long in my opinion, if it was that bad and in 17 years i've seen the worst imaginable you should of walked unless of course he paid you double what the suite was worth!
For £180.00 i am talking about a standard, not double cushioned 3 seater and 2 armchairs, cleaned in whatever the appropriate manner may be for whatever the circumstance, the turbo dryer would be in the room also, including chat tea and biscuits, a very civilised 3 hours start to finish, no rush no drama, NO SWET, a quality service, a quality clean with accelerated drying time, extra for guarding etc. and a happy repeat customer and probably a recommend or 2 chucked in.
regards
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I think its ridiculous that cars sell for £100k or a pair of Diesel jeans is £150.
Buts thats only because i cant afford them.
Let your potential customers judge the cost not you or youll be too cheap.
Mark
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Well it looks like i will be putting up my prices in the new year and good luck to those who can get £300 for suite,stairs,landing that seems to be the norm on here.I still think i will be a good bit cheaper than that but as long as iam happy and making a good living that will do me.
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Darren its not just a case of putting your prices up over night.
Its customer perception, you have to get the right type of customer that fits your service and price point.
Some areas of the country are very hard to get the higher end prices regularly were as some are very easy. Remember its not just price point, its image, professionalism and above all service and bsing able to deliver a top job.
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Darren its not just a case of putting your prices up over night.
Its customer perception, you have to get the right type of customer that fits your service and price point.
Some areas of the country are very hard to get the higher end prices regularly were as some are very easy. Remember its not just price point, its image, professionalism and above all service and bsing able to deliver a top job.
yep your bang on there but it can be done but just takes time
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It's all about the presentation you put before the customer, you may well clean the same as you did yesterday but today you want 50% more so you speak in a different way or may be dress in a different way but you are now selling the 'sizzle' of the steak the bit they think they'll like - as for thr the steak? well that just taste the same as yesterday!
Shaun
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Bang on Shaun, there are some very average cleaners out there charging top money, the actual clean matters less if the customer knows no different or is super impressed with the level of service or sizzle as you say.
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A lot of Chem Dry's can't be bothered with carpet cleaning as Fire & Flood is the mainstay of their business. They price high partly because of this but also due to the high chemical overhead they have.
However they do have to place YP adverts as part of their franchise agreement.
Homeserve are gradually spreading their tentacles buying up some of the large franchises and operating them with directly paid staff. The franchises which are left will come to rely more and more on the carpet side.
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When i say iam putting my prices up iam talking about 20% if i were to start charging £200 for a suite i wouldnt be doing much work in my neck of the woods.
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It's all about presentation and marketing. The customer has no idea what the machines are and cares even less about what chemicals you use.
Personality wins every time over hype and bull.
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Are the higher prices some of you guys charge including VAT?. I charge 150 for a standard suite + vat
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including vat here Mark
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Furniture takes more time and is basically more work than carpet, to be perfectly honest you owe it to your back to charge twice per hour for furniture than you would carpet...end of story.
And I can clean a lot of carpet in 2 hours, so that Suite had better pay good or I'm off to clean some more carpet cause it's easier.
Until you have 20% of your customers flinching at your quote, you are simply not charging enough.
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It's all about the presentation you put before the customer, you may well clean the same as you did yesterday but today you want 50% more so you speak in a different way or may be dress in a different way but you are now selling the 'sizzle' of the steak the bit they think they'll like - as for thr the steak? well that just taste the same as yesterday!
Shaun
Cant say I agree with charging different prices for different people - or am I reading this right? I couldnt do it, my conscience wouldnt allow it! What if they spoke to a custy friend of theirs who live down market and they told each other the cost and found out there was a huge difference. Er big trouble.
Am I actually reading this right? Sorry Shaun if I'm wrong - can you expand?
Kev
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I will probably get slaughtered for saying this, but I charge according to how I size up the job and the probablity of getting the job after sizing up the client's likely budget.
To me it's like bidding for a commercial job. If they are happy with the price then they are happy. I've had people referred to me and I've charged a lot more.
Now, the thing I would say is look at it from the other angle. Custy rings up says they want job done asap you ask and they say just want it done and not getting other quotes. You charge your standard rate.
An identical job crops up down the road, they have had four quotes and the day they want it done you havn't got a job. Do you quote the same or give them a discount to win the business?
I would say though, the better the price I get the more time I spend and the more 'value' I will add in ie free spotter, 1 free stain removal etc.
They also tend to have more expensive stuff that you could knock over, are more fussy etc etc but my main point is it cuts both ways and the acid test is are they happy with the result for the price they paid.
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I pay more for my private health insurance than my wife does. she pays more her her haircuts. I pay more for my house insurance than my neighbour.
people & homes are different & no 2 jobs are the same, that's why you should charge them different.
I charge affluent homes more because my liability within them homes is higher, and usually these clients have higher expectations so need time.
Mike
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Kev you read it wrong.
Shaun
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Fair enough then ;D
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Kev sorry for my short answer my tea was ready, but I was refereing to those who want to put their prices up over night not to those who want to charge different prices for different customers.
Shaun
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Hi
If you charge by the sq ft then customers in bigger houses pay more, whilst actually paying the same.
Dave
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if you go into a home and they have 50m2 of £1.99/m cord carpet will you clean it for the same price as if they had 50m2 of £300/m wool Axminster
if I had 2 different cars one a £250 banger the other a £40,000 BMW would an insurance company charge me the same premium for both of them because I'm the same and I want the same coverage.
our price cannot just be dictated by size.
mike
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Hi
Arn't we talking about package prices, you can have say £20, £40 & £60 per room, but each level is different.
So everybody pays the same whills everybody gets something different.
Dave
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Should never be size alone, or you will be spending twice as long on some jobs, but for the same money. As long as you qualify the price to the client.
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Thats interesting Mike.
Agreed that an insurance company is bound to charge more for a high value car then an old banger - bigger payout if an accident they have to pay on.
So then, the value of perhaps not only the carpet but also the value of other objects which remain in the room we clean needs to be taken into account too.
The higher the perceived price of these means a higher payout if damage.
Therefore that highlights a benefit of going to quote rather then telephone quotes (albeit estimates).
Am I thinking right?
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Sorry don't agree (by the way this is not for CC who charge per room - so please ignore this post).
Whether its £5 or £500 sq mtr doesnt generally make any difference to time taken and price of chems etc. If anything, it can be harder to clean a downmarket house than a big posh one because they can be dirtier. A lot of big houses we clean are hardly dirty at all. Be honest now - Agree or Disagree?
So just because someone has a more expensive house doesn't mean they should automatically pay more per sq ft. This can be percieved as a rip off, and lets face it they aint daft. If you charge a higher price 'cos they got more money' and they find out it was purely for this reason, bang - you've lost the client for good.
I understand the importance of value and the cost of replacement should a problem occur, but thats what we have insurance and good training for. If they do have a BIG house you earn more anyway because of the sq ft involved (unless you price by the room), so you earn very good money.
The amount of times I have heard of instances where people in the service industry (various trades), upon walking up the path to a big house, instantly double the job value in their head because they think they can afford it. Is that really ethical ??? Thats why it can be quite difficult in obtaining these high value jobs in the first place. For instance, we have clients where we have done £800-£900 carpet cleaning jobs for which is easily done in less than a full day, and I think that if I tried to add more on to the value because I thought, yeh why not, lets see if I can get more out of them, I would get told in not very polite terms, to leave the house.
Food for thought.
Happy 2008 to you all
Kev
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I agree it unethical to charge more because they are wealthier, but I see nothing wrong in increasing the price if the 'risk' is higher that's why I give the car insurance example, if you ruin a £10,000 carpet you pay for it, but if its only a cheap £100 carpet that's all you pay.
it would be wrong to assume that 'risk' ( and so increase the price) as you walk up the drive because its a big house.
Mike
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There is no right or wrong in this debate. But it's healthy to discuss and educate the inexperienced of the options available.
For myself, I agree 100% with Kev.
Safe and Happy New Year :)
Ken
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Taking this a stage further. Would you charge the same rates, for homes owned by wealthy people from entertainment industry, sports industry, or maybe National Trust type properties, etc.
Just talking about big houses and they don't always want a lot of work done, per visit.
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If you went through the full spectrum of how to price it would take longer than the clean itself to work out.
Shaun
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Is it ethical that the goverment proportionally tax's the poor more and the rich less?
So is it not just fair that when we meet the rich we take some back!! ;D ;D ;D
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Benny, your funny ;D
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A good friend of mine who is a franchisee uses a spot pro for uhp and he is £15 per bottom dear than me, I can understand why!
Rob
If I were ask to do Danson house the price would defiantly go up, know how much the carpets cost and the fitting charge (not the run of the mill fitter)
Len
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Len
Respectfully, I think the debate here is for domestic.
Cheers
Kev
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Im just wondering how many down market homes use Kev and Ken.
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???
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I have done a fair mixture over the years, including a few international footballers ( not just Scottish ) night club owners, mega rich and " others "
I tended to have a higher rate, for the rich, for the reasons mentioned above, plus the increased setting up putting away times.
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Hi Guys
Why do you charge more for commercial, probably becausethey can get it !
Likewise more upmarket domestic will generally pay more and as you are in business you will therefore charge more.
Don't be afraid to make money.
Cheers
Doug
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I agree it unethical to charge more because they are wealthier, but I see nothing wrong in increasing the price if the 'risk' is higher that's why I give the car insurance example, if you ruin a £10,000 carpet you pay for it, but if its only a cheap £100 carpet that's all you pay.
it would be wrong to assume that 'risk' ( and so increase the price) as you walk up the drive because its a big house.
Mike
I think what Mike said earlier holds a lot of weight.
Its fair, its not ripping anyone off, and its practical.
Yes we all have insurance (hopefully) but there are still excesses to cover.
and dont forget, we are doing a professional job - not a £50 splash n dash